Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley is fond of traveling around telling people in other states how to run things. But perhaps he should stay in Maryland and take a look at what seems to have been thinly veiled racism in the prosecution of that black Hudson County detective whose family was threatened by a couple of white Marylanders in a road-rage incident last year.

after a family birthday party with his wife and three kids in the family minivan when he became involved in a road-rage incident with a couple of locals. The driver of a Honda Accord, 36-year-old Joseph Harvey, apparently thought the minivan had cut his Honda off. He began pursuing the van and “Once he pulled alongside, the N-word came out,” said Pope.

The 40-year-old Walker tried holding up his badge to get the guy to back off, said Pope.

A bottle struck the minivan and then it was forced off the road by the Honda, Pope said. Walker got out to check for damage, unaware that the Honda had stopped up ahead. As he was checking the van, his wife shouted a warning that the 290-pound Harvey was heading Walker’s way.

At that point, said Pope, Harvey pulled his Glock service pistol and again warned Harvey to back off. He didn’t. When he got within six feet, Walker fired three shots. That ended the attack – and Harvey’s life.

When the Maryland State Police showed up, they arrested Walker. In published reports, State Police officials said the charges were brought because Harvey fired two more shots after his initial shot hit Harvey in the leg. Pope dismissed that.

“When you fire, you fire,” he said. “The manner in which he acted is consistent with his training as police officer. His fear that he was in imminent danger was real.”

It certainly sounds that way to me. This sounds like a classic case of self-defense. It also sounds like a classic case of good, old Southern-fried racism.

Let’s imagine the races were reversed here and it was a white cop from out-of-state tooling along in a minivan packed with kids. And let’s imagine the two guys running him off the road were black. Would the State Police have filed charges against the white guy?

I put that question to the guy who’s in charge of the Maryland State Police, Gov. Martin O’Malley. His people declined to answer. They instead referred me to a State Police spokesman, Elena Russo. I asked Russo to respond to each of Pope’s allegations. She declined, in each case stating that interviews of witnesses are being conducted and the relevant information will come out in legal proceedings.
Pope’s version of the encounter was accepted by the jury and his client was acquitted of all charges.

But why was he charged in the first place?

All of Pope’s assertions were backed up by evidence available to the prosecution at the time. Let us review:

1. During the time Harvey was trying to run him off the road, Walker showed both his badge and his gun to Harvey.

2. Despite knowing Walker was an armed police officer, Harvey parked his car and came toward Walker in an aggressive stance.

3. Harvey outweighed Walker by 100 pounds. If he had gotten close enough to fight him physically, he could easily have taken the pistol and shot Walker.

4. At that point Walker had no choice but to shoot Harvey.

Well, he could have called 911. That was the extremely silly stance the prosecutor took in explaining why he was charged with murder.

But that makes no sense whatsoever. If Walker had gotten out his phone instead of his gun, he might well be dead now. The cops would have arrived in time to clean up his corpse.

All of that was obvious from the beginning. The only thing the trial added is that Harvey was at the legal limit for drunkenness went he went after Walker. Yet the prosecutor charged the man who was under attack in this road-rage incident rather than the attacker's accomplice. Here's an excerpt from the Baltimore Sun article on the trial:

Walker's lawyers also followed the verdict with a request for a grand jury investigation of Adam Pidel, a passenger in Harvey's car at the time of the incident. They said either Harvey or Pidel threw an energy drink at the Walkers' van, and they allege that Pidel also used racial slurs during the incident.

The state's attorney's office said there are no plans to prosecute Pidel. "There is no evidence Mr. Pidel committed any crime," spokeswoman Heather Stone said in an email.

There's plenty of evidence, but I suspect the Maryland authorities are just too racist to see it. If as was alleged in the trial Pidel also advanced on a man guarding a minivan full of kids, then he seems like he was taking part in what was going to be an extremely ugly assault.

As I noted at the time, this was a Trayvon Martin case in reverse. The reason we need stand-your-ground laws is that ambitious prosecutors will often ignore the right to self-defense for reasons of their own.

Was the reason in this case the racist belief that a black man can't defend himself and his family in the South?

Or perhaps the prosecutor is just a total nincompoop who honestly believes that if Walker had dialed 911 the cops would have been on the scene in the five or six seconds Walker had to protect himself.

Either way, a stand-your-ground law would have outlawed the prosecution of an honest man who did nothing but protect his family from assault by a drunken racist.

All of this would be a fit study for O’Malley to undertake. I suggest he do so immediately.

The letter alleges someone in the car threw a Monster Energy drink at Walker’s vehicle during the incident, causing a dent.

Walker said Harvey then ran him off the road and when the 300-pound Harvey, and Pidel, began walking toward him with fists clenched, the detective yelled "Go back. Just go back." Walker testified he shot Harvey once in the leg as he continued to advance and when that did not deter him, Walker shot Harvey two more times, according to press reports.

The letter says Walker was checking the minivan for damage when the pair approached and alleges that “As Harvey and Pidel aggressively advanced on the Walker family, putting them in fear for their lives, it is clear Harvey and Pidel’s intention was to kill or cause the Walker family serious physical injury.”

The letter alleges Harvey was killed “during the commission of a felony ... Therefore, under the Maryland felony murder statute, we believe that Pidel is legally responsible for Harvey’s death.”

The letter alleges “Harvey and Pidel also engaged in hate crimes when they caused damage to the Walker family’s vehicle and then continuously harassed and threatened them because of their race. This conduct cannot be ignored.”

The letter is signed by Walker’s lead defense attorney, Charles N. Curlett, Jr., his partner, Steven H. Levin, and attorney Michael T. Cornacchia.